Location: French Prairie is one of Oregon’s largest rest areas and encompasses over 40 acres on each side of Interstate 5. Located a very short distance from Portland at milepost 281, the rest stop is near major tourism and visitor attractions, including Woodburn Company Stores and the National Historic Districts of Aurora and Champoeg. ( See the map at the bottom of this history page for driving directions.)

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OTIC financials; Mike Drennan: Drennan reviewed and highlighted selected areas of the balance sheet and results os operations for the 13-months of the biennium that ended August 31, 2010. The finance committee is keeping a close eye on the cash-position, as it was lowered last month. Accounts receivables are …

Oregon Heritage Tree Committee Members at the Witness Tree (photo taken by Paul Reis)

Dennis Devine, owner of the Witness Tree Vineyard (photo taken by Paul Reis)

Quercus garryanna
This Oregon White Oak reflects the early practice of using landmarks as survey markers for property boundaries. With time, these original markers have disappeared. The Witness Tree served as a survey marker for the southeast corner of the Claiborne C. Walker donation Land …

Populus trichocarpa
This giant black cottonwood stands near the site of the Willamette Mission established by Reverend Jason Lee in 1834. At that time, the Mission and tree were located on the banks of the Willamette River. The great flood of 1861 changed the river course to its present channel, leaving what is now Mission Lake. The Willamette Mission Cottonwood is the largest of its kind in Oregon and the nation.

Tree …

Ulmus
This tree has long been identified with Henry H. Wheeler for whom Wheeler County is named. From 1864 through 1868, Wheeler drove the first stagecoach service past this site on The Dalles – Canyon City Wagon Road. In 1866, Wheeler was ambushed near here and severely wounded. A monument dedicated to Wheeler stood by this tree for over sixty years until it was moved with the realignment of Highway 26.

Tree …

Tsuga mertensiana
On September 13, 1888, after traveling two months along the spine of the Cascade Range, Judge John B. Waldo, Oregon’s foremost nineteenth-century conservationist, and his companions rested at Island Lake and carved their names into the mountain hemlock near the southeast shore of the lake. This trip provided first-hand information for Waldo to use in his lobbying efforts to support legislation designating the 4.5 million-acre Cascade Forest Reserve in …

Sequoiadendron giganteum
Judge William Waldo, the son of an 1842 pioneer, planted this sequoia in 1872. Waldo made efforts during his lifetime to preserve the tree and over time others have saved it from the encroaching street system. In 1936 the Salem City Council declared the site, a twelve by twenty foot plot of land, a city park.

Visit this tree

Acer platanoides
One of the original 250 Norway maple trees planted by volunteers along Spruce Street and “S” Avenue in 1923 to commemorate the end of the First World War and to appreciate the returning veterans. The beautiful tree-lined parkway, known as Victory Way, stretches from downtown to Riverside Park. The planting culminated in a large ceremony including singing, a luncheon, and speeches.
Although less than 25 of the original maples survive …

The Valley of the Giants is a 51 acre parcel of land containing a stand of old-growth Douglas-fir and hemlock trees many of which are more than 20 feet in circumference and nearly 200 feet tall. Some of the largest trees are between 400 and 450 years old. The largest, blown down in a windstorm in 1981, was more than 35 feet in circumference and over 600 years old.
Because of …